Sunday, March 30, 2014

An Ras Mor 5K

Final turn in CambridgePhoto by Scott Mason

The Somerville Road Runners and Ras Mor 5K in Cambridge played host to the USATF New England Championship. This was the third race in the Championship series as teams already competed in the Jones Group 10 mile and New Bedford Half Marathon. The rain was coming down as Joe Shairs and I headed into Cambridge. The weather is something we can't control. It is what it is. We spun around the neighborhood that surrounded Massachusetts Avenue and the Asgard seeking a quiet spot but none to be found with my lack of patience. I took to the garage on Green Street which in the end cost $19 for four hours. It was piece of mind and a dry haven. We got our numbers around the corner and then headed out for a warm up with Justin Freeman. I tried to recall the course that I did in 2011 (16:34). However, the course has changed so I really only showed them the first half of the course which was primarily out to Harvard Square and back. The new course took a right hand turn into the residential area of Cambridge and looped back to almost where we started. That made up the 2nd half of the race.

I started the race about four rows back. I got off the start and in motion with no slips, trips, or falls. The rain backed off and was very light but we had to be conscious of puddles and staying off any painted surfaces on the roads (reduce slipping and waste). I wore my iNov8 233's and stayed out of trouble. The temperature was in the low 40's and we headed into the wind on Massachusetts Avenue. I noticed my legs were tight and never really loosened up. I passed mile one around 5:22 to the left of Joe, not the 5:05 something we heard by a volunteer. Joe passed me shortly thereafter. Eric Narcisci (Whirlaway) was now with Joe and the started to pull away. I eventually caught up to Wayne Levy (BAA) and we went back and forth for the next mile. CMS teammate, Tim Mahoney came by with 800m to go and I got on his heels. I started to rig a bit as SRR's Joe Lauer went by with 400m to go. He has been very timely passing me with force in the closing miles of these USATF races. The 3 mile mark came up quick and so did Jason Porter (CMS). I expected him to be in front of me during the race so really shocked me to come around. We turned right for the last 150 meters and went for it. I crossed the line with a gun time of 16:58 and mat to mat bib time was 16:56. I went into the race with light mileage over the past few days so it was all good. I really expected to be in the 16:5X range. Thus I was content with the effort. Looking back, I would not change anything other than not give in a bit with three minutes to go.

I connected back up with a bunch of CMS teammates and we headed out for an estimated four mile cool down along the Charles River and back into Cambridge via Mass Ave. CMS had a few athletes run PR's like Morgan Kennedy and Colby Chrusciel today which was awesome. Dave Dunham ran his 100th USATF New England Championship. He and Dave Lapierre ran their first race as Seniors (50+). It was nice to see Tim Van Orden and Al Bernier jump into a team race again after a layoff. Race results via coolrunning are here. Photos by Scott Mason can be found here.